Warning sign
by UrbanMess
Summary: (Lucaya) With Maya's mom working extra shifts in the diner when their conditions worsen, she turns to a dark path because she has no one except a deaf grandmother at home to keep her in check. The story revolves around Lucas and Riley finding out that Maya has a problem, and they do everything to pull her back out, and Lucas ignores the warning signs and does a little bit more.
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1**

(Set towards the end of eighth grade and a little while before GM New year)

It was a week or two after their awkward first date when Lucas noticed something weird about Maya. They were in the cafeteria, the general bunch, and everybody was talking a mile a minute. It was taco day, so they all got second (and some third) helpings. Everyone, except for Maya and that was when Lucas' gaze dropped to her food. She had destroyed the taco and put everything to the sides, making it seem like she had eaten and some of the filling had fallen out, except that all the filling had fallen out. And that set him off. Then he looked up at Maya who was busy talking to Riley about some newspaper article she had read that morning. Nothing was odd until you actually noticed her. Her hair was dull and her arms were thinner than usual. Her collarbone stuck out way more than it should and her favourite bracelet was holding on to her tiny wrist for dear life. As he analyzed her, he realized something and suddenly drew in a sharp breath, which caught the attention of everyone else at the table.

"Lucas?" Riley questioned and a fraction of a second later Zay said-"Lucas, man you alright?" but their questions fell upon deaf ears. Lucas' gaze was so fixated on Maya, a crushed look on his face, that he didn't even notice his two friends trying to talk to him.

"Hellllooo! Earth to Lucas Friar!" Farkle said, waving his hand in front of his friend's eyes until he snapped out of whatever world he was lost in and finally turned to Farkle.

"Huh, what?" he asked pretending that he didn't just realize that his friend-his best friend- hadn't been eating right, or eating at all for that matter; which could mean only one thing and he would rather not think about it. "Nothing's wrong. I was just, um, thinking. About. Stuff." He struggled as his eyes averted back to Maya's short frame.

Maya was scraping her boot's heel on the cafeteria's fake wooden flooring when she saw Lucas looking at her. And not 'just' looking, _really_ looking. As in, looking at her as if she was one of Farkle's science experiments that he was trying to explain to the other four. She met his gaze, only to see that his eyes weren't set on her, but on her wrist. On instinct she coughed loudly and awkwardly and put both her hands under the table.

"You looked like you were taking a trip to Rileytown, I got concerned." Zay said with a mocking scoff.

"Hey! Rileytown isn't as a bad as you think Zay. It's full of unicorns, and glitter, and more shiny things." Riley defended, ending her sentence with a dreamy sigh as she undoubtedly thought about puppies and bunny rabbits. That was until she looked at Maya's plate to see that she hadn't even touched the second taco that Riley got for her a few minutes back.

"Maya, you haven't even touched your taco." She exclaimed exasperated, and sensing an opportunity, Lucas took it.

"Yeah Maya, eat your taco." He said in a cheery voice as he picked up his own and took another bite.

Maya, who was fiddling with her food, looked up and said- "I'm not that hungry Riles. Your father's class really kills my appetite sometimes, tell him that." She joked completely ignoring Lucas. "He isn't so bad." Riley defended, rolling her eyes at Maya.

"Yeah Maya," Lucas pushed, "he isn't. Don't let the lessons about the battle of Panipat get in the way of you and your taco." Lucas prompted as everyone laughed at his statement. Maya hesitated, but only for a second before scowling and saying-"Okay Ranger Rick, if that's what makes you happy." After she said this, all of them went back to their own conversations and Maya took exactly three bites of her taco before putting it down and just remaining quiet the rest of the time. Lucas was talking to Farkle about the upcoming debate which Farkle had reminded him, was very important. Even after hearing this Lucas' eyes kept turning to Maya every once in a while, and flashed at her with concern. This went on for a while until the bell rang, and Maya immediately stood up, claiming that she would be late for art class and rushed out not even bothering to look back at the group as she put away her tray and walked out.

Riley felt something was wrong about that, and so did the other two boys. Riley got up mumbling about 'sorting whatever this is out' as she rushed past Zay and Farkle until Lucas got up in a flash and caught her arm. "I got this." was all he had to say as he shared a look with Riley and she stepped back. Lucas was up and running as soon as she nodded, looking back at his two other confused friends with Riley standing to the side. Then he jogged out to confront Maya.

Lucas was standing outside the girl's washroom where he had seen Maya run to a moment earlier. His right foot bounced up and down as he waited for her to come out, earning weird looks from the few people who were in the hallway as they passed by. Soon enough he was standing in an empty hallway because Maya still hadn't come out. He almost gave up, until he heard the door of the washroom open as said girl walked out, looking rather pale. He reacted instantly, grabbing her wrist and pinning her against the wall next to them. Maya was startled until she looked up and then she let out a sigh as she looked up at him.

"Look, whatever game this is Huckleberry, I don't want to play it right now." She said annoyed as she freed her wrist and started walking away. Lucas immediately grabbed her wrist and pinned her against the wall again. She just looked at him for a second, annoyance written all over her face as she tried to free her wrist from his hand. She used her free hand to push him away but Lucas wouldn't have it. He took hold of both her wrists and placed them on the wall, next to Maya's head.

"You're not going anywhere until I'm done talking to you Maya." He said as she struggled to free herself but to no avail. "Maya," he started, trying to put it in a way that wouldn't make it hard on her, "something's not right." He said, his grip on her wrists tightening considerably.

"Yeah, I'll tell you what isn't right. You keeping me from going to class." Maya snapped, not sensing where this conversation was going. Lucas sighed, "No, it's not that. Let me rephrase myself, something's not right, with you." Maya tensed at that but didn't say anything. Then Maya's expression morphed back into a calm one and she started talking.

"What do you mean something isn't right with me? I'm fine Sundance, so I don't see what could be so important that you had to make us both miss Matthews' class. Oh I know, maybe I haven't been calling you enough nicknames! That's why we're here isn't it Huckleberry? Because I've been going to soft on you? I knew I shouldn't have. I was just trying to-"

"You're not eating." Lucas cut her off, his tone exsaspartated. "That's why we're here Maya, because you're not eating." He finished and Maya shut up. Her mouth closed with a faint click of her teeth and she just stared at him as he in turn looked down at her.

"What?" Maya asked after a long silence. After Lucas remained silent, in a quiet voice she continued, "I'm perfectly fine Lucas, so just let me go." She said trying to move away from Lucas. This time when she tried, Lucas lost it. He grabbed her roughly and threw her back against the wall, his Texas side coming out and he didn't even realize it. Maya's head hit the wall, and she winced. Before she could comprehend what was happening, Lucas gripped both her wrists so tightly that she could already see the bruises forming. "I TOLD YOU NOT TO LEAVE." He all but shouted and Maya winced once again She looked up and saw Lucas' eyes filled with rage, so she just dropped her gaze and stared emotionlessly ahead, refusing to look at him. Then, in a quiet voice, she said-"You're hurting me." And then Lucas realized what he was doing. He noticed Maya's small frame shaking, with anger or fear, he didn't know. As soon as he saw that he was cutting the circulation off from his wrists and that there was a distance of two inches between them, he instantly let her go. He stepped back ashamed, guilt washing over him when Maya refused to even look at him. She just stared straight ahead as he opened his mouth to apologize- "Maya I-"

"Don't." she said holding up a hand, a sign that she wanted to hear nothing right now. "Don't you dare." She warned looking up at him with anger and disappointment clouding her eyes, her hand still up in the air distancing her from Lucas. Lucas looked down ashamed and saw her hand that she was holding up, seeing that bruises were forming on her wrist. A quick glance confirmed the presence of the bruises on her other wrist as well. Then Maya wordlessly walked away, showing no emotion.

Lucas just stood there defeated, and made no attempt to stop her. This one was on him, he had let anger get the best of him, and he had scared her off with bruises to attend to on her own. Not knowing what else to do, he took off his jacket and left it at Maya's locker so that she could cover up her hands. Lucas knew she wouldn't tell Riley, but Riley was very observant so Maya would need a cover. So he left his jacket for her and then walked away, wishing he could take back what he had done.

 **Author's note- the chapter is set after Girl Meets Rileytown but that fact is actually insignificant to the storyline. and all that stuff with Lucas breaking into Riley's room after hearing about her being bullied didn't happen here, okay?**

 **And this is a lucaya fanfiction so please don't expect any Joshaya or Rucas!**

 **Review this chapter so I can improve, thanks a lot for reading! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

After Maya had distanced herself from her and Lucas' one-sided fight, she rushed to her art class wanting nothing more than to forget what had just gone down. She knew she was wrong for not telling Lucas the truth about her "problem", and she would've been dying of guilt but she wasn't. Maybe because Lucas' outburst has scared, and angered her to the point where she only saw red. These thoughts kept her occupied as she walked over to her locker to get her art supplies. She stopped midway when she saw a jacket clinging to the handle of her locker. On closer inspection she found out that the jacket was, one- too big for her, and two- belonged to Lucas. She knew this because it was the one he had been wearing to school for the past week, and it was a faded red colour from the frequent wears.

Maya scoffed as she saw the piece of clothing, knowing exactly why he had left it there for her. Then she turned to look at her wrists which were turning a light shade of purple and her stomach dropped a bit. His grip on her hands has been tight, but not enough to make them turn the tell-tale purple of a bruise. 'You can get through this' she convinced herself as she thought about the mess she was in. she knew Lucas wouldn't tell Riley about anything, at least not yet, because after hearing what he did to her best friend Riley would make sure Lucas was dead meat.

Maya ignored the jacket and opened her locker. She has just taken out all of her oil paints when she heard the bell ring, and then the hallway became a fish market. She just turned back to her locker and retrieved her paint brushes along with everything else that she would need.

"Maya!" she heard Riley shout from across the hall where she had gotten out of her science class. Riley smiled and started making her way over to her, and Maya's eyes widened a little as she realized that her wrists were on display for her brunette friend to see. So, she went against her own thought process which told her to just leave the jacket on the locker (or even in a trashcan), and she put it on; for the sake of protecting both Lucas and her. She did so just in the nick of time and turned around to greet Riley.

"Hey Riley!" she replied a bit too enthusiastically as her pupils slowly shrunk back to their normal size. "How was class? Good ol' Farkle didn't bother you too much did he?" she joked easily coming back to her old sarcastic self, because her best friend was just that good.

"Well, except for when he almost spilled some chemical on my face, it wasn't so bad." Riley replied scrunching up her nose and pretending to actually think about what happened in science class. "Is that Lucas' jacket?" she asked as she saw her tiny friend looking like an ant as the jacket reached her knees-literally- and it sleeves were about twice the size of Maya's arms.

Maya tensed for a second but then replied easily saying that Lucas had asked her to hold on it while he was at practice for the upcoming game, and that she wore it because she was cold. Riley almost believed her, but because she already knew that something was off about her friend, she didn't but didn't question her further because they were late for their classes. "Okay." Riley said nodding, "What class do you have now?" she asked changing the topic.

"Art." Maya grinned. "And from what I know you have a free period so you're helping me carry these," she held up her supplies, "to the art room." Riley gave her a disapproving look so she added, "Pleaseee?" with puppy eyes. Riley was a sucker for those so she just sighed and complied, carrying Maya's paints with her to the art room. When Maya had thanked her and gone inside Riley took out her phone to text Farkle and Lucas.

 **To: Lucas and Farkle**

 **My family is having a game night again, care to join? We're playing the friends game this time.** **J**

She sent out the text and sat on the bench beside the lockers as she waited for them to reply. After a minute, her phone vibrated alerting her that she had a new message.

 **From: Farkle**

 **Sure! Count me in.**

Riley just smiled and then saw that Lucas had replied too.

 **From: Lucas**

 **Yeah sure, I'd love to.**

 **To: Farkle and Lucas**

 **Okay. See you at 7!**

 **From: Lucas**

 **Who else is gonna be there? Same as last time?**

 **To: Lucas**

 **Yeah, Uncle Josh is in town so he's joining too and I asked Zay in English and he said he's in if he gets free popcorn.**

Riley kept her phone down and bit her nails for a moment before composing another text to Lucas.

 **To: Lucas**

 **Did you talk to Maya?**

The question had been bothering her since Maya abruptly walked out on them in the cafeteria. Although, she didn't think it was a big deal because Maya had been just fine a few minutes ago. Her phone's screen lit up as Lucas replied.

 **From: Lucas**

 **Didn't get a chance to. I couldn't find her before the next class begun. We have History next; maybe you should talk to her then?**

Lucas knew lying to Riley wouldn't make it any easier, but right now he didn't want things to be harder either. He was sitting on the bleachers texting Riley, needing to be alone for a while. His phone beeped and he read her reply.

 **From: Riley**

 **Okay, I will. It's almost time for the next class so I guess I'll see you in 5? Bye!** **J**

Lucas was about to send back a 'bye' when Riley texted him again.

 **From: Riley**

 **Take your jacket back from Maya before you go or she'll claim it as hers and it looks WAYY too big on her anyways.**

Lucas assumed that Maya had lied about why she was wearing his jacket, but he didn't have the heart to say anything about it to Riley so he just pretended to ignore her second text and replied with- **'Okay, see you in History. Bye!'**

When Lucas entered History, he saw Maya wearing his jacket. It was too big on her, he mentally agreed with Riley, but what made his heart drop was when he looked up to see Maya's blur eyes rimmed with red. She had been crying but of course, being the girl that she is she was putting up a strong front in front of her friends. Maya was drawing something in the corner of her binder when she looked up to see Lucas standing at the door. She immediately froze seeing his blank expression, not knowing whether his Texas side had calmed down or not. She suddenly snapped her head back to face her desk and continued drawing little dreamcatchers on her binder to calm her down.

Lucas smiled at Riley as he walked past them, but grimaced when he saw Maya flinch away when he passed by her. Her eyes were as wide as saucers and she scooted to the opposite end of her seat when she saw Lucas within arm-grabbing distance. Riley noticed but she didn't think much of it, knowing that whatever it was Maya would tell her after school anyway.

Just as Lucas went to his seat Mr. Matthews entered the classroom. He had a bunch of chart papers on his hands, blocking his view of the class. As soon as he put down the chart papers, his eyes landed on Maya and the undeniably huge piece of clothing that she was sporting. He frowned and looked at Riley, who just shrugged. "Maya, did Josh give this jacket to you?" he asked her and Maya suddenly looked up. "Wh-what? No! Why would you assume something like that?" Maya said, struggling to form sentences at the mention of Joshua Matthews. Lucas frowned, 'Maya never stutters' he thought to himself just as Mr. Matthews spoke again.

"Well, considering how he was more than willing to give you his jacket last family game night, it wouldn't be a surprise." Mr. Matthews said, chuckling a little.

"Calm your horses Matthews." Maya said rolling her eyes. "He just did that because I was as cold as ice, and besides, this jacket isn't even his so let's just drop it and study about Belgium 1831." She argued. Mr. Matthews' fatherly instincts towards Maya kicked in and he suddenly said- "If it's not my brother's, then whose is it?" inquiring about the jacket thinking that it belonged to her secret boyfriend, or worse, her secret husband.

"It's Lu-" Maya started confidently but suddenly stopped, then coughed and said, "It, um belongs to a friend." She finished as she glanced back for a second in Lucas' direction.

"We'll discuss this late Maya, if not Josh then no one." Mr. Matthews concluded and then said that today they would be discussing inspirational women in the world's history. Maya was sleeping with her eyes open and Lucas was thinking about why Riley's dad had suggested that the jacket belonged to Joshua. He had met the guy once, when he went over for family game night, and found out that Maya had a crush on him but he never thought anything could happen because of the age difference. Clearly he was wrong, since at the one game night that he had missed, his friend and Riley's uncle had been hitting it off. Lucas just scoffed at the idea of the two together.

has been talking about a lady called Neerja, an Indian air hostess who saved more than 200 lives when a plane was hijacked. Currently, he was discussing her life before she became an air hostess, and about her abusive ex-husband, when he heard Lucas scoff and all eyes turned to him.

"Mr. Friar, perhaps you would like to tell the class why you would scoff at something as delicate a matter as this?" he said with raised eyebrows.

Lucas quickly composed himself and thought of something to say. "Sir I was thinking about the terrible things that people do to other people and some people do to themselves. They don't think about the people around them when they do this, and they lose control." he paused to look at Maya who had turned around and was looking at him, "sir if I may say so, Neerja was a brave woman for saving those people's lives, but she was an even braver woman for escaping her abusive husband who refused to even feed her." Lucas finished with a smile, intent to have come up with a decent reply to the question. Then he thought back to his last sentence and he gasped inaudibly and looked at the blonde mess of curls and the head attached to it. 'Refused to feed her' he mumbled under his breath, a frown etched on his features as another possibility came to his mind.

What if Maya wasn't doing this to herself, but someone else was. The thought alone filled him rage and he swore to beat up anyone who mistreated Maya in any way or form. So when the bell rang signaling the end of class, Lucas Friar had only one thing on his mind as he exited the classroom- _no one hurts his Maya Hart._

 **Author's note- I'm thinking of writing a love triangle between Lucas, Maya and Josh because I just have this picture in my head about those three. So please review this chapter and tell me what you think of my idea (not very original but I'm a lame llama so..)**

 **Thank you for reading and please review this chapter along with the previous one!**


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

Maya was sitting at the table with Riley as Topanga and Corby made snacks for the guests who could arrive anytime now. Maya was wearing a pair of black leggings with Lucas' jacket along with a tan top underneath. She was still wearing the jacket because she hadn't gone home after school and came straight to the crazy Matthews house. She always kept a few pairs of clothes here because she practically lived here, but the one sweater that she keeps in Riley's closet was in the laundry so she had no choice but to wear his jacket.

Riley was going on about how her dad was never going to let her date in peace because he was their teacher, and Maya was laughing at her statements and kept cracking jokes when Mr. Matthews tried to argue. She was setting up the game when she heard the door bell ring, and declared that she would get the door because she was the greatest. Riley just smiled and shook her head at her best friend who stuck her tongue out and went to open the door.

"Coming!" she shouted as she neared, and then she flung the door open to reveal a grinning Farckle and a rather apprehensive Lucas clad in blue jeans and a full-sleeved black t-shirt as he held his coat in one hand and stared at Maya with his mouth slightly open as if he wanted to say something but couldn't.

"Hey guys, come on in." Maya said, completely ignoring Lucas as she gestured with a smile for them to come in.

"Hey Maya." Farckle Saud as he and Lucas walked in, hanging their coats on the coat hanger. "Is that Lucas' jacket?" he asked her.

"Oh for god's sake, it's just a jacket! Why is everyone making such a big deal out of it?" Maya shot back rolling her eyes, tired of explaining to people that it was in fact Lucas' jacket. Lucas noticed her discomfort as she spoke so he just told Farckle to drop it without sounding suspicious.

"Okay, if you insist." Farckle said, raising his eyebrows and glancing back and forth between the two before turning around and greeting everyone else. Maya heaved a sigh of relief as she saw him go and then turned to Lucas again. He was staring at the ceiling with his hands at his sides, fisting and unfisting out of nervousness. "Here, take this back, I don't think I can handle lying to another person about it." She said beginning to shrug off the jacket until Lucas stopped her.

"Wait! No, just...keep it on, please." He hurriedly said, his guilt getting the best of him.

Maya just shook her head, "No Huc-Lucas, just take it." She ordered as she started shrugging it off again. "Maya don't." is all he said and in a flash, he was in front of her as he stopped her midway and pulled the jacket up on her shoulders again, before tugging at it and securing it back into place. He realized how close they and looked at Maya, opening his mouth to apologize but stopped when she suddenly jumped back a few steps out of fear. Lucas just stood still as his eyes pleaded her to stay and listen. They stayed like that for a while, and didn't notice their two friends taking in the scene with curious eyes and knowing looks. Farckle and Riley then turned to face each other as realization spread across their faces, and both broke out into grins. After a silent agreement they decided to leave their friends alone and both went to help Topanga set the table.

Maya and Lucas stayed like that, his hands clutching the jacket, subconsciously pulling Maya closer to him. Maya opened her mouth to ask Lucas to let her go but they were interrupted by the door flinging open to reveal a grinning Joshua, complete with the leather jacket. Lucas and Maya flew apart at that and backed away from the door so Josh could enter. When he stepped in, the first thing Josh noticed was two flustered looking teens that he easily recognized as Lucas and Maya. Just then Auggie came up to him running screaming, "Uncle Josh!" and hugging him. Josh just laughed and picked up his nephew as he stepped into the living room and greeted everyone else as well before turning to Maya and Lucas who were awkwardly standing behind the sofa.

"Hey Maya." He hesitated, remembering what had happened in the dorm party two weeks back, "how are you?" he asked finally and to his surprise Maya didn't stutter, or call him 'Uncle Boing' when she replied.

"I've been great! How's NYU treating you?" Maya responded trying to make small talk, too focused on the fact that her empty stomach was finally catching up to her and she was beginning to feel a little light-headed.

"It's been good, yeah. Although the girls and Andrew miss you so much, it's like they're your friends not mine." He joked, wondering what could be wrong with her that she wasn't even enthusiastic when talking to him. Then when Lucas saw Maya's uneasiness, he coughed awkwardly as he distracted Josh. Josh's eyes suddenly snapped to Lucas' and he greeted him with a forced smile and Lucas shot back with one equally as forced because neither of them knew each other very well. As the two attempted at a conversation, Maya quietly slipped away from them and retrieved her place beside Riley on the table with Auggie jumping to sit on her "Aunt's" lap. Kids caught on fast, Maya thought to herself as she chuckled lightly.

After another 20 minutes of small talk everyone had arrived. Let the games begin.

The game was basically a board game, same as the last one but this one revolved around friends rather than family. Teams were made with two players each and they went- Cory and Topanga, Auggie and Ava and Riley went with Zay because she didn't want her father to kick Lucas out by teaming up with him. Just like the last time that everyone played together, there was an odd number of people left- Josh, Maya and Lucas. Both boys left it up to her to decide who goes with whom, and right now it was a no-brainer. She looked at both boys sitting on either side of her on the couch and said, "Josh."

Lucas clenched his fists, feeling the urge to punch the college boy in the face, because he took away the only chance that Lucas had to talk to Maya. Josh, on the other hand, was smiling from ear to ear because the blonde girl had picked him. He then scooted closer to her, grinning at her as she mustered up a weak smile in return. That's when Lucas saw that she was wearing a jacket which he assumed belonged to a guy, considering the fact that it swallowed up her tiny frame. He felt jealous all of a sudden, because now that she was showing no interest in him, he wanted to get closer to her and solve the mystery that was known as Maya Hart.

"Lucas needs to play on his own this time I guess." Riley commented, smiling at him sadly. Cory immediately declared that the game was starting before Lucas got a chance to sneak his way into Riley or Maya's teams.

Everyone agreed and they all started to play. This game, they realized after a while, involved more teenager-y stuff than they had anticipated. There was even a point when Ava and Auggie landed on a square which said "Love triangle", which caused Riley, Lucas and Maya to look at each other and go "Ahh" with uneasy smiles and frowns. Basically Auggie and Ava had to pick a member from another team to complete the triangle and then he or she would have to pay half of the amount for them when they got 'speeding tickets'.

After two rounds when it was Josh and Maya's turn and they rolled the dice and moved forward, they landed on the love triangle as well. Without thinking Josh said "Lucas!" mostly because he was playing alone, but a part of him just wanted the blonde boy to feel uneasy. Maya just nodded dumbly, her head feeling lighter and lighter and her vision getting more and more blurry as Lucas crossed over and sat beside her, joining their team. Everyone continued playing but somewhere in the middle of Cory and Topanga rolling the dice and Riley and Zay cheering, Maya began to lose consciousness and she quickly steadied herself by grabbing on to Luke's arm, and this both he and Josh noticed. Josh just sat there confused while Lucas panicked and tried to ask her what was wrong. Maya couldn't reply because in a flash, her vision went black and she fell forward and her grip on Lucas' arm loosened. Immediately two pairs of arms caught her by the waist on either side as both Josh's and Lucas' eyes widened. Maya was completely knocked out by this point and as soon as both boys pulled her back up, her body fell towards Lucas, who caught her easily. Then he realized that she felt like she didn't even weigh ten pounds and alarm shot through his body. By that time everyone had gathered around them. "Quick, carry her to Riley's room, wither of you!" Topanga exclaimed as she frantically ordered Riley to get water and Cory to get something for Maya to eat.

Josh began to pick Maya up, but Lucas stopped him as his grip on her tightened. Josh shot him an angry look but stepped back anyway, to concern about Maya to be fighting with him. Lucas was quick to act, picking up Maya bridal-style as one of her hands hung lowly in the air. He carried her unconscious form to Riley's room and gently placed her on the bed before stepping back and letting his hand slide down his face with frustration and guilt. "Why couldn't you just listen Maya?" he all but cried out, and then suddenly everyone in the room was looking at him with the exception of Riley, who was sprinkling water on Maya's face.

"Lucas? What are you talking about?" Cory inquired, and at the same time Topanga asked, "Is there something we should know?" Lucas just looked down at the floor until Josh said, "They're all asking you something Lucas and you'd better answer it." He barked out, before adding- "If you did something to Maya, I swear to god I will kill you Friar." He warned and Lucas' eyes widened as he realized what Josh was implying.

"What the hell? No. It's nothing like that!" he quickly defended himself and then Josh gave him a look that said 'then explain what the fuck it is', so he did.

"She hasn't been eating." He said quietly, his head hung low. Nobody but Josh caught onto what he was saying.

"What?" Josh said slowly, almost like a warning to Lucas to tell everyone the truth.

"She hasn't been eating. I don't know since when and I don't know why, but she isn't- she hasn't, been eating." Lucas explained slowly, and just as he said those last words, Maya regained consciousness.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey! I promised to update sooner if I got more than 4 reviews and I did! So here it is, I hope you like it because I really am proud of this one. *grins***

 **So I'm gonna set a review goal for each chapter, just because you guys are awesome and I love your reviews.**

 **Thank you so much WanderlustAlice, ArmyNavyGirl2012, tmrwilson48, , WHITE ANGEL WINGS and lucayalover for reviweing. I'm glad you guys are liking it so far. Enjoy!**

 **(review goal: 6)**

* * *

"-she hasn't been eating."

Maya slowly gained consciousness, just in time to hear what Lucas was saying and panic coursed through her body. 'He wouldn't tell them would he?' she thought to herself as her eyes fluttered open and she tried to sit up on the bed. When she fell back with an 'oomph', everyone turned to look at her wearing different expressions. Cory and Topanga just looked shocked and concerned; Riley just sat on the edge of the bed with horror written over her face while Farkle was trying to comfort her as he just looked confused and scared. What caught Maya's attention though, was the fact that Josh's body was radiating anger as he looked at Lucas, while Lucas just stood there with his eyes averted to the ground. Topanga was the first to speak. "Maya honey, are you alright? Are you feeling any better?" she asked as she came to stand beside the bed that Maya was currently in. Maya's voice felt hoarse as she replied with a, "I'm fine." And she suddenly craved water more than anything.

Riley, realizing this came forward and offered Maya the glass of water that she was holding and the girl gratefully accepted. After downing the water in one go she saw that both Josh and Lucas were now looking at her, and while Lucas just looked guilty, Josh looked ready to kill. On further inspection of the room Maya noticed that Riley and Topanga had left the room. No more than 30 seconds later the mother and daughter came back in, and Maya suddenly felt all the air leave her body because her best friend walked in carrying what looked like a weighing machine.

Maya immediately sat up straighter in the bed as Topanga spoke once again. "Maya we need you to get up and stand on this." She said carefully because she was in undiscovered land now. Maya hesitated but started to get up anyway and Cory rushed to her side to support her as she walked. Josh stepped aside to make room for her as she took a shaky breath and stepped on the dull green machine. Maya just stared straight ahead, refusing to look at the numbers and she heard everyone gasp as Riley's hand flew to her mouth. Unwillingly Maya looked down at the scale and froze. ** _50 pounds_**. Before she had time to explain anything Josh grabbed her arm and roughly yanked her towards him. "What the fuck Maya?" he said lowly but menacingly enough to cause Maya's hair at the nape of her neck stand up. Just then she left another arm pull her in the opposite direction, but this time it was much gentler. She looked up to see Lucas pulling her behind him. "Don't talk to her like that." He said trying to control his temper as Maya just stared at both boys with with wide blue eyes.

"You knew about this." Josh accused him, taking a step forward and jabbing a finger at his chest. Lucas instinctively pulled Maya back so that she was standing behind him, completely covered by his tall frame. "I found out this morning. I couldn't just barge right in and declare that Maya is anorexic!" Lucas said his voice getting louder and angrier with every word. Maya flinched at the term ' _anorexic_ ' and looked at Riley for help, but she was too busy taking in the scene between her uncle and her best friend.

"You should've done exactly that! At least we could have done something about it." Josh replied and that was all it took for it to turn into a verbal boxing match.

"Like what, huh? Force her to eat? Or would you drive her away from you again? Because that's all you've been doing to her anyway." Lucas shot back and within a moment Josh had grabbed his collar and pinned him against the wall and Maya stumbled back from the impact, and Topanga rushed to her side.

"You wanna say that again?" Josh threatened just as Cory ripped him away from the wall. "Stop it, both of you." He ordered just as Lucas composed himself and stepped away from the wall. "Get out of this room and let us talk to Maya." He said and both boys opened their mouths to speak but Cory cut off any protests by saying, "She doesn't need this right now and neither do we. Both of you go to the living room until this is sorted out and if either of you start a fight, you're sleeping outside in the rain." Cory said, barely able to contain his anger over the two teenagers fighting. Josh and Lucas reluctantly turned to the door and began to walk, their anger still so obvious and Riley shivered as they walked past her and into the living room, slamming the door shut behind them.

Then everyone turned their attention back to Maya, who had taken a seat on the bed and was loathing the inevitable questions that she would have to answer. They were all quiet for a while, trying to make sense of everything and then Riley shared a look with her parents and they backed away letting their daughter handle this. "Maya, I need you tell me everything," she paused, "Okay?" she asked softly as she moved to sit beside her on the bed. Maya just shut her eyes and nodded. Her eyes were glazed over when she opened them again, but she didn't waste any time to start talking.

"My mom, she uh, picked up a few more shifts at the diner because things were going…downhill for us." She hesitantly y said and Riley placed her hand over Maya tying to comfort her. "It wasn't a big deal at first; I could go home and do whatever I wanted. My mom would leave cereal and microwaveable meals for me and Grammy and it was all good for the first two weeks." She paused as she got to the difficult part, and drew in a shaky breath letting a few tears fall down. "But then I got sick of it, I just wanted my mother back." She said with a bitter laugh as she looked up at the ceiling and wiped her eyes. "I just wanted her to be there for me, to help me with school, to cook for me. I wanted her to look at my paintings and I wanted to make her proud. So after that I would just stopped eating, because I was tired of eating off-brand cereal all alone in my room. I was tired of taking care of Grammy and I just wanted it all to stop. But it didn't." she let out a bitter laugh. "Mom would always say that she had bills to pay, and a house to pay for, and I guess between doing all of that, she…she forgot that she had a daughter to love too. She forgot that I needed someone at home to take care of me, and because she stopped taking care of me and loving me; I stopped too."

Riley's breath hitched in her throat as she realized how oblivious she had been to her _best friend's_ pain, and she just sat there looking at Maya as she spoke once again. "I started to skip my breakfast, and then my lunch and then eventually all meals of the day. I thought this is how my mother wanted to see me," she said gesturing at her thin body, "starved and broken. I just kept doing it, and then one day when mom came home in the night, she opened the fridge and she was so..Happy to see all the extra food that was in there. She didn't even think about me, she didn't ask, not even once, whether I had eaten or not. So I started thinking that I was this huge burden on her and I decided to do her a favor. I did everything that I could to just, go away. Then slowly I realized that I was growing weaker because of not eating enough, and it made me _happy_. I knew my body would eventually give out if I continued, so I did." When Maya paused, Riley finally let her tears slip and her body shook with pain.

"I stopped completely; it went from barely eating to nothing at all. Nobody noticed when I wouldn't eat, and it completely broke me." Maya decided it was best to leave out everything else she had done because she knew it would cause everyone too much pain.

"Some days I would just fall to the floor because my legs couldn't hold me up, and some days I would just faint, like I did now. As you can tell, my plan of dying would've more or less been a success if what happened today didn't. I was just desperate to die I guess." Maya finished, and when she looked up she saw that Cory and Topanga had been crying. Farkle was standing next to her, hiccupping as he cried and his head hung low. Riley was having a complete breakdown and she hugged Maya, crying her eyes out. The door flung open again and Lucas and Josh walked in. Maya knew they had heard everything because Josh was running his hands through his hair again and again as he looked at Maya with sad eyes, and Lucas' eyes were rimmed with red and he just looked broken.

"I never want you to think like that ever again Maya, we love you and we'll be there for you even when your own mother isn't." Topanga said as she helped Maya up and hugged her, and Maya felt more warmth in one embrace that she had felt from her own mother in all her life. Maya nodded into the hug and held Topanga tight until they broke apart from the hug and smiled at each other with watery eyes.

Before anyone else could say anything, Lucas cleared his throat and stepped closer to Maya until he was no more than two steps away. "How long?" he asked, gulping as he tried to contain his tears. When Maya didn't answer he stepped forward and took both her hands in his own. "How long Maya?" he repeated softly as he pulled her close to him, and out of the corner of her eye Riley saw Josh clench the wall as he shot daggers at Lucas' back.

"Two months." Maya replied just as softly, but judging by the gasps that were heard around the room, they had all heard. Lucas' grip on her hands tightened just a little bit, but Maya jumped back immediately as she remembered what he did in the morning. Lucas' mouth opened and closed again and again and he dropped his hands to his sides once again, not wanting to scare her anymore than he already had. Nobody noticed, except for Josh who stood up straighter, not leaning against the wall anymore. He had thought that Maya was a bit jumpy whenever anyone touched her all evening, especially Lucas. Even when he entered he saw Lucas grabbing Maya by the jacket and pulling her close as she just shrunk back in fear, and now this. His eyes widened as he put two and two together and thought Lucas had done something to her. It had to be bad because Maya wasn't easily scared and right now, she was shaking with fear. Without thinking he crossed over to where Lucas and Maya were standing and caught hold of Maya's wrist. Her eyes squeezed shut when Josh's hand made contact with her bruises. Although she was wearing the jacket Josh guessed what was wrong. He shot Lucas an icy look before looking down at Maya and saying, "We need to talk.", before dragging her out of the room.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hie! I just realized that I completely forgot about putting Farkle in a team in the last chapter. *averts gaze* SO, for the sake of the story line just think that he was the game host.**

 **Ohh and, I found this amazing lucaya fanfic called '** ** _Enceinte'_** **written by** ** _tiramisuspice and I am crying over hoe good it is. It's got 138k+ words and I love me a long book. Also, if you guys have read or written any lucaya fics, feel free to PM me because I will love you forever if you do._**

 ** _Anyway, here's the chapter, enjoy!_**

 ** _And shoutout to ohfc11 for telling me how Farkle's name was written. It's a funny name so sorry for messing up his spelling, but I wemt ahead and corrected it in all the chapters so donut worry._**

 ** _(review goal: 8)_**

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"Josh what the hell?" Maya screeched as Josh dragged her out of the Matthews' apartment and into the lobby. He kept walking and didn't respond and Maya's free hand moved rapidly to free herself from Josh. He just kept quiet as he led them both down the five flights of stairs and walked into the small opening at the back of the apartment building which was covered with walls on each side which separated them from everything else.

Josh stopped and tugged on Maya's wrist as he pulled her in front of him. "What did he do to you Maya?" Josh asked her as Maya pulled away her hand from his grasp and rubbed her wrist. "Who?" she asked absentmindedly, too annoyed to figure out what he was talking about. Josh sighed and took a step closer to her. "Lucas. What'd he do to you?" he asked as he towered over her and looked at her with a questioning look. Maya stopped momentarily and dropped her hand to her side and stared coldly at the ground before feigning confusion as she looked up at him. "What?" she asked laughing, "What could that six-foot oaf ever do to me?" she said with a roll of her eyes and smirked, and Josh almost bought it. Almost.

"Then can you explain why you were wearing what I assume is _his_ jacket in a centrally heated house for the whole evening and flinching away when even Riley came close to you? What are you hiding Maya? Just tell me." He pleaded. Maya just stared at him emotionlessly; a cold and hard look plastered to her face as she realized what he was talking about. She was surprised at how easily he had pieced everything together but she didn't let it show for even a split second.

"Well news flash Mr. Perfect- I'm anorexic. And because of that, I get cold really easily. Whoo, shocker huh?" she stopped and waved her hands around with every word, sarcasm, dripping from her every word. "And the last part is just bullshit. I was not flinching away from Riley or you or anyone, so just drop it and let's go back inside okay?" she lied, but really what other choice did she have? Because although Lucas wasn't right in doing what he did and she was still angry, she couldn't just throw him under the bus. She knew he reacted on impulse, and didn't know what to do so she kept quiet for both their sake and to avoid unnecessary drama. Or in this case, _more_ unnecessary drama.

"This whole _I don't care_ thing isn't going to work with me Maya. Not when you could be getting physically hurt." Josh said putting air quoted around 'I don't care' as he grew more and more concerned and anxious about what was happening to her. Maya opened her mouth to snap at him but then shut it right back as a frown etched into her forehead. What he mean by " _physically hurt"?_ She gasped as she realized Josh thought Lucas was abusing her. Oh no no, the words 'Lucas' and 'abuse' didn't even belong in the same sentence, ever. "You think Sundance," she started as she pointed in the direction of the apartments, "is abusing me? Like, literally abusing me?" she asked exaggerating the last three words as Josh's eyes shot up from the ground to look at her. 'How can she put it so bluntly?' he thought incredulously, but still nodded slightly at her question, "Or worse Maya, he could be taking advantage of-" he started but Maya just waved both her hands in the air as if to say 'what the fuck? No.' and cut him off.

"Look you've gotten it all wrong. Lucas would never do that, or anything even _remotely_ close to that. So calm down. He just made a mistake okay? I mean, yeah sure it wasn't the wisest thing to corner me and-" Maya snapped her mouth shut as she realized what she had just blurted out. "And what?" Josh asked in a low voice as he stepped closer to Maya and she stepped back as a reflex.

"And nothing!" she squeaked, a little too cheerfully as one of her hands absentmindedly moved to rub her other wrist. The action didn't go unnoticed by Josh, who suddenly started stepping closer and closer to her with no intention of stopping and Maya just kept stepping backwards each time he did forward. She knew where this was going and she didn't like it one bit. "Josh what..?" she questioned, not knowing what to say as he kept moving towards her.

"Cornered you huh, like this?" Josh asked just as Maya's back hit the wall and her confidence dropped, already knowing where this was going, but she hated being trapped so she stepped aside. Josh took a hold of her wrist just like Lucas had in the morning and pushed her back to the wall as he spoke again, "And stopped you like this?" he asked as one of his elbows rested above Maya's head and he leaned down to look her in the eye. Suddenly he started leaning into her, and Maya's breath hitched. When he was close enough that Maya could his breath on her face; both his hands caught her wrists and he pushed up the sleeves, revealing their bruised state. "And did he do this too?" he asked after a long time of inspecting her injuries as she stood there horror-stricken. "I'm asking you something Maya. That bastard did this to you, didn't he?" Josh's voice had taken a 180 turn, and now he sounded ready to kill. He looked like it too, which is why Maya pulled her hands back and tried to explain to him that he was thinking the worst of everything that had happened.

"Josh just _calm down_ will you? He lost it for a split second and it means nothing. If it helps, he was guilty as hell and he tried to apologize more times than I can count. Why else do you think I would be wearing this," she gestured to the jacket, "all day? He was sorry and he helped me okay?" she ended with her eyes searching for his for a response.

"Oh he's going to sorry alright." Josh said as he rolled up his sleeves and rage shook him. Maya sighed in annoyance. "Why do you care? Why do you suddenly care so much about what is happening in my life and to me? I mean, you rejected me Josh. Less than three weeks ago, and you're suddenly ready to kill a guy because he _touched_ me. Even when I'm telling you it was a mistake. I don't understand why _you_ would be doing all this, and I sure as hell am not an idiot. So can you please tell me what the fuck is going on?" When she finished her rant, Maya was out of breath and it seriously wasn't helping her fatigue.

Josh was looking up and down and right and left, haphazardly moving his head around to look at anywhere but her. Because frankly, even he didn't know why he was doing this and why he cared so much about the blue-eyed girl. Before he could ponder more and drown himself in confusion, Maya's hand reached for his arm, or anything that could steady her. He looked at Maya who by that point, was more or less blacked out. He quickly picked her up bridal style and rushed to get her back to the apartment. He shouldn't have dragged her out and made her angry, not when she was obviously so weak. He quickly got into the elevator and pressed the button for Cory's floor. As soon as he was inside the door of the house, he shouted out that Maya had fainted again and everyone came rushing out as he laid her on the couch.

"What the hell happened?" Lucas asked him as Riley and Topanga tried to wake Maya up. Josh's hands twitched as Lucas showed his obvious concern for the girl, so he turned around to face him and with venom lacing his voice he said, "You did." Before walking away from him to sit next to Maya.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi people of the world, how've you been? This chapter came out really well I think, so please enjoy reading it. And please review it because otherwise I don't know what you guys think of it, okie? Thank you my fellow lucaya army people. OH and, the first episode of season 3 of GMW is literally amazing, I saw it a few days ago on youtube because I live in India and they don't air the show here. Yeah, really.**

 **Anyways, enjoy chapter 6 of Warning Sign, and don't forget to tell me what you think. :)**

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"This needs to stop Maya; it can't go on like this anymore." Riley said with pleading eyes as Maya sat on the couch with a fleece blanket. She just sighed and closed her eyes, her tough exterior crumbling down as she took in a shuddering breath. Riley took one of Maya's hands and held it in her own and gave her the smile that had made Maya feel safe and wanted all these years.

"I know Riles, but I can't just _stop_ you know? It's not easy." Maya tried to explain but Riley's brows furrowed in confusion.

"It will be, once you start trying that is." She replied confidently but her tone hung on the edge of confusion. Maya tucked her hair behind her ear and sat up straighter trying to think of a better way for her friend to understand.

"It's like…it's like you, me and Lucas." She said and Lucas, who had been helping Topanga in the kitchen, snapped his head up at the statement.

"Oh so now we're talking about this." he said with raised eyebrows as he walked over to them, his eyes dancing with amusement.

"Hush, Huckleberry. This is important okay? And this is the last time that we're mentioning this, **_ever._** _"_ Maya said, as both she and Riley looked down and blushed embarrassedly. Lucas took one look at both girls and he looked torn. Maya continued talking, much to the relief of the three teenagers."What was I saying? Oh yeah, this is worse than whatever the heck is going on between us three." She said gesturing between them. " _This_." she pointed to herself, "Is gonna take a lot more work." She concluded as she rested her back on the couch again.

After Josh had brought her back up, Maya had been feeling a lot lighter, a lot more at ease somehow. Maybe it was because she realized that these people actually cared and it was like a flick of a switch inside of her. Although Maya was happy, she knew she could, she would, crash back down any day. Because when she had started all this, she had one reason and one reason only, a wish to die, but all these people; her friends and family made her want to try and crawl out of this dark hole.

Riley and Lucas sat by her for a long time, both of them holding either hand of hers in theirs. Maya stiffened a little when Lucas held her other hand but calmed down instantly. Then when she looked at him he had a look of terrible guilt in his eyes, so Maya took her hand, the one Riley had been holding and placed it on top of her and Lucas' intertwined ones and lightly whispered, "It's okay."She laughed when Lucas grinned like a goofy six year old and shot her an 'all teeth in view' grin.

They started talking, the both of them, about anything and everything under the sun and for once Maya forgot all about her mother and her anorexia. She just focused on him as they talked. She knew it wasn't like the usual 'cowboy and Clutterbucket' arguments but she was enjoying it wholeheartedly. They were so engrossed in laughing their heads off about something that they didn't even notice Riley slipping away from them and going to stand next to Farkle.

"They like each other don't they? This is so great." Riley gushed and Farkle's eyebrows shot up in surprise. He had expected a full-blown sob fest."You're...okay with that?" he asked, treading dangerous waters. Riley just turned to look at him with a grin plastered on her face.

"Of course I am, they look wonderful together." She said and Farkle nodded and looked ahead, confused out of his mind. Riley clasped her hands together in front of her and looked down. "And besides," she said stealing a glance at Farkle who was still staring ahead, "I've found someone else now." She said and Farkle glanced at her in surprise and she snapped her head back down again.

"I, um, I think mom needs me." She said before scampering off to the kitchen where her mother was observing her daughter's _peculiar_ conversation with her friend with an impressed look. "Good choice." She said in a teasing tone as she bumped her daughter's shoulder with her own. Riley just picked at a radish and grumbled an embarrassed "Shuddup." As Topanga laughed at her antics.

"So I see you guys have it all sorted out now hah? What with you and Farkle and _him and her_?" she asked nodding her head in the direction of the couch where Lucas was watching with amusement as Maya talked animatedly about something using her left hand to make animated hand gestures, her right one still sandwiched between both of Lucas' hands.

"They're surely getting together." Riley said dreamily as she snapped a picture of them on her phone for future uses. "But not me and Farkle. No, definitely not happening. Not now, not ever!" she stated shaking her head furiously, making her curls fly all over the place. Topanga smiled at her daughter's answer before she got back to preparing a salad for Maya and ordering Riley to make pink lemonade for everyone.

Back on the couch, Lucas was sitting on a small fur stool beside Maya; their hands still an entangled mess. Throughout their conversation, Lucas had been inching closer and closer to Maya and she didn't seem to mind. Joshua, on the other hand, took a great deal of offense to that. He was standing to the side drinking pink lemonade as he saw both blondes chatting like there was no tomorrow. He scoffed loudly when he saw how Lucas was so o _bviously_ trying to make a move on her. He took a sip out of the glass and his eyes drifted to Maya and Lucas holding hands. She was running away from him less than two hours ago, and now they were _HOLDING HANDS?_ He was beyond pissed and he didn't even know why.

Maya had just finished laughing at Lucas' horrible impression of a cowboy when she felt something cool splash on their hands and they both immediately jumped apart. She looked up to see Josh standing there with a look of mock-horror as he hastily apologized.

"I'm so sorry!" he said as he bent down and sat down in front of Maya, forcefully pushing Lucas' stool back a bit to separate him from them."Here, take this." he said taking out a handkerchief form his pocket and handing it to her as he turned his head slightly to look at Lucas from the corner of his eye with a smug smile on his face.

"No, it's okay. I'll just go clean this up." Maya denied with a shake of her head. "No I insist, it was my fault Maya. Here, take it." Josh said as he once again held out the handkerchief to her. Maya sighed before reaching out to take it, but her hand just met air.

"I'll take that, thanks." Lucas said hurriedly as he snatched the napkin before Josh could protest. He just gaped at Lucas with his jaw slacked as he tried to process what had just happened. "Ohh, this is nice. What's it made of? Silk?" Lucas asked smugly, wiping his forearm with the square cloth.

"It's cotton. And it isn't for you." Josh said through gritted teeth as he snatched it away from Lucas and turned to Maya, only to find her gone. He squinted his eyes in confusion as he thought where she went.

"She left." Lucas said as he came face to face with Josh just who had whipped his head back around to face Lucas. Maya was walking with Riley towards the bedroom to change.

"Yeah, I noticed." Josh said scoffing as he rose to his feet and dusted his pants. Lucas followed suit, and when Josh was about to walk away he opened his mouth and said,"She left because you came. Remember that." And then walked away to find a change of clothes, leaving Josh to burn holes with his eyes in his retreating back.


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry for disappearing on you guys, I've been really busy. So here's the chapter and I hope you like it. And I've decided that starting the story after GM Rileytown wasn't fitting into the storyline so I've made it sort of like after Lucas and Maya's "dates" and then the story line is gonna steer towards GM New year before I kind of just f*ck the actual plot line and go gaga with it.**

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"I'm telling you for the last time, I can't eat it. I just can't." Maya said, stabbing the salad that Topanga had made her with a fork. It looked delicious, but she knew she wouldn't be able to have even a little. Her body was used to this way of living now- starved and freezing. No matter how hard she tried, the thought of actually eating made her feel queasy.

"Maya come on, please just have one bite. Please, for me?" Riley said with puppy dog eyes and Maya tried not to fall for her act.

After the whole incident with Josh spilling his lemonade all over them, Maya had changed into some of Riley's clothes and Lucas was wearing Cory's t-shirt, much to his reluctance. And now, everybody sat around Maya at eight in the night because they were all staying over. It was raining buckets on the streets of New York so Lucas, Farkle, Josh and Ava had no choice but to stay over at the Matthews'. Maya ran a hand through her hair as Riley kept looking at her with big, doe eyes and even though she knew it wouldn't turn out well, she agreed, to please Riley.

"Okay, fine." She said huffing and picked up her fork to take a bite of the chicken salad. She had a look of knowing nervousness on her face as she started chewing on the lettuce and cheese. Behind her, Riley grinned in triumph.

"See I told you it couldn't be that bad…" she trailed off when Maya jumped to her feet and rushed to the toilet. "Oh boy this is bad." She squeaked as she ran towards the bathroom and saw Maya throw up her first bite of the salad into the toilet seat. Even after that she kept coughing violently, her eyes brimmed red with tears. Riley raced to her friend's side and pulled her back as Maya's head fell back and rested on the bathroom wall. She closed her eyes and tried to rid her mouth of the bitter taste even after she puked out nothing. She heard a flush go off as Riley cleaned the mess and then came and sat down beside her on the small concrete floor.

"Are you okay?" Riley asked as she rested her head against Maya's shoulder. And suddenly Maya realized that she wasn't okay. Sure, everyone was trying to help her, but her sole motive of not breathing anymore had her chained down in iron. Then just like that, her day became colorless and the world was once again, a dark place.

"No." she said after mulling over it.

Riley replied with an understanding, "Okay." And then silence took over the two best friends. Maya was replaying today in her mind, trying to remember the good things. Like how amusing it was when Ava 'divorced' Auggie, and how peaceful it felt to have Riley and Topanga, her sister and mother, by her side; and how happy she was when she was with Lucas. Whether it was talking to him or holding his hand, or even when they both simply just looked at each other between sentences. His sea-foam green eyes made her have _hope_ and so; she did the one think that she never imagined herself doing- asking for Lucas, and feeling a sense of urgency to have him by her side.

"Lucas." She tried saying but each word felt like sandpaper being rubbed against her throat, making it so that it hurt her to even say a word. Riley lifted her head up and stared at Maya confusedly. The blonde was clearing her throat by coughing profusely so she could get more than a few words out before her throat started to feel like the Sahara desert.

"Lucas, get him for me?" she begged and then coughed a little bit before saying, "And some water would help." Pointing at her throat. Riley chuckled and got up from the floor. "I'll go get both." She said and turned around to look at Maya when she stepped out the door. 'You'll be fine, I promise.' She thought solemnly.

Then with a determined look she walked into the living room where everyone gave her expectant looks. "She's..She'll be fine." Riley said nodding her head, convincing herself more than them. Then she went to where Lucas was standing and said, "She's asking for you." Lucas suddenly looked more alert, but didn't move because he was unsure.

Josh, who had been standing next to Cory slumped at that, and ran a hand through his hair. Riley noticed, but then she turned to Lucas again and whispered, "Go." He nodded simply and took off in the direction of the bathroom and Riley then moved to stand beside her uncle. Josh saw her and gave her a small smile but he wasn't really happy, nobody was right now but he just seemed most likely to fall apart first.

"Uncle Josh?" she said softly.

"Yeah?"

"Why?" was all that she said, but when Josh looked down at her, he knew what she meant. He sighed and averted his eyes to the floor.

"I don't know."

"I think you need to find out." Riley said and placed a comforting hand on his arm, giving him one last look before walking off.

When Lucas entered the bathroom he saw Maya with her head against the wall, looking up as tears streamed down her face. He went and sat down next to her, his legs reaching the toilet seat. "Hey." He whispered gently, and when Maya looked at him, he felt like a piece of him had been ripped out. Her hair was a mess and she was clutching her sweater's long sleeves in her fists to the point where her fingertips turned white. When she didn't say anything back, Lucas hesitantly reached for one of her hands and un-fisted it and the crumpled sleeves fell back on her hand. He repeated this for the other hand as well and Maya just looked at him dazed. He gave her the glass of water as he sat beside her again, and she gulped it down gratefully before speaking.

"Sorry, it's a habit of mine." She said nodding her head in the direction of her now crumpled sleeves, th-thanks." She murmured looking up at him. Even when they were both sitting he was a great deal taller so she had to crane her neck a little to see him.

"It's no problem, I have a nemo squishy that I squish when I'm angry." Lucas replied with a serious face as he looked at Maya. "It has eyes that pop out too."

After a second, Maya burst out laughing and even though it was croaky and short, Lucas laughed along, happy to see her smile. Because when Maya hart cried, the sky was never grey enough and the sun never shone bright enough. It felt like all the love in the world wasn't warm enough and even the ocean wasn't deep enough. At least not for Lucas Friar and in that moment that's all that mattered.

"You have a terrible sense of humor, Sundance." Maya said as her laughter died down.

"It made you laugh didn't it? That's all that matters short stack." Lucas said with a smile and Maya blushed a little, but when he used her nickname she gave him a look that said 'don't push it' and his hands flew up in mock fear.

"So tell me Maya, why am I here?" he asked putting his hands back down and looking at the girl with a questioning look. She stayed silent for several minutes and they both just sat there, away from everything. Just as Lucas thought she wasn't going to say something, Maya spoke.

"When I was three years old, I wanted to be a singer." She said with a small laugh as she thought back to her childhood days. "I would dress up all pretty and I would go perform in front of mom every day, and she loved it. She would always tell me how amazing my voice was and how pretty I looked. I loved it. It made me feel _so_ good about myself, you know? Like I could do something; be something in my life." She looked up at him with a bitter-sweet expression and Lucas tensed. Her eyes glistened a little, making Lucas feel like there were sparkling blue crystals in her eyes as she continued. "So then one day, when my dad got home, I sat him down; and I sang my favourite song for him. I wore my best dress and I sang. And when I got to the third line of the song, he got up, looked me straight in the eye, and said, _"Maya Hart, you stop right now and go do something useful. You can't sing, you're no good."_ Before he walked off." Maya stopped, taking in a long, shuddering breath before starting again.

"I was a little girl, _just three years old._ After that day, I never sang in front of anyone. Not my mom, not him, not anyone. Because after your father tells you that you're not good, you actually believe it. And so I did." She stopped and closed her eyes. By this point Lucas was staring down at her with sad eyes.

"He used to have this journal, my dad. And when he left, I kept it because it was the closest thing to a father that I could have. I started writing in it and I before I knew it, it was full of songs. My songs. But I've never sung even one out loud, never. Because my _father_ told that I wasn't good enough." She dropped her head slightly and closed her eyes.

"I always had this hollow space inside my heart, and when mom stopped paying attention to me two months ago; I just lost myself. I crashed and burned, because I convinced myself that both my parents didn't think I was worth anything, anything at all." When she was done, she opened her eyes again, which held more pain than Lucas had ever seen, but she didn't cry. Not a single tear fell from her eyes as she looked at Lucas with a shattered face which he returned with a sorrow-filled expression and his eyes glazed over with tears. They stayed like that for what seemed like forever, and they just looked at each other as they tried not to cry. Lucas sat up a little straighter against the wall and Maya looked at him confused.

"Sing something for me." He said and her eyes widened.

"What? No! I just told you that I NEVE-"

"Change that. Because you can't let him hold anything over you Maya. He left because he was a coward, and nothing that he ever said to you should make you not believe in yourself, because you are _so much_ more than what your father ever convinced you of." He said cutting her off, and when Maya saw that he wasn't playing around she sighed and dropped her head.

"I'm no good." She mumbled with her hair falling covering her face like a curtain.

He moved forward and took her face in her hands."Do you really believe that?" Lucas pried and tucked her hair behind her ear, startling her but she didn't meet his gaze. He hooked a finger under her chin and lifted her face up so she was looking at him.

"Let go of him Maya. He doesn't deserve being in your life and he sure as hell doesn't deserve your love, so start now. Just forget that bastard. Sing." By the time Lucas had finished talking, Maya felt like he was right. she didn't know why she had opened up to him about this, nobody except Riley had ever been able to get her to tell them willingly; but he didn't even have to ask. She trusted him, snd even though it was no secret that she liked him; they were never really close enough to spill out their darkest fears. But she felt relieved that she had told him out of all the people that she could have, so as he looked at her expectantly, she took a deep breath and for the first time in ten years, she actually sang.

 _"Four years old, with my back to the door,_

 _All I could hear was the family war;_

 _Your selfish hands, always expecting more_

 _Am I your child, or just a charity ward?"_

Before she even realized, Maya had closed her eyes and was singing like she had never stopped.

 _"Oh father, please father,_

 _I'd love to leave you alone but I can't let you go;_

 _Oh father, please father,_

 _Put the bottle down, for the love of a daughter,_

 _For the love of a daughter_ ."

Maya's voice faltered at the end and she could barely keep her tears at bay. The song had really hit home, and also, she had sung in front of someone after so long that it felt almost surreal.

When she opened her eyes, she saw Lucas looking at her with raised eyebrows and wide eyes as she mumbled a, "Wow." They both looked at each other and before she knew it, Maya had buried her head in Lucas' shoulder and was crying for what she felt like was the millionth time that day but this time she felt oddly comfortable. As she cried, Lucas placed a hand on the back of her head and just held her for the longest time. When Maya lifted her head back up she saw that Lucas too had cried, but never once had he let go of her to wipe his tears. So she reached forward with her hand and wiped away his tears and he looked at her in surprise. She was surprised too but didn't show it as she retrieved her hands and placed them on her knees.

"You have a beautiful voice Maya." Lucas said after thinking for a while, and Maya's hands returned to fisting her sweater's sleeves as she let his words sink in. He thought she was good. He didn't think that she wasn't good enough. Her nerves grew and grew, and although a small part of her wanted to believe him, she couldn't. Not after so many years of feeling worthless so she nodded her head at his words and looked down, her hands still clenching the sweater.

"And Maya-" Lucas started again as he reached out and un-fisted her small hand from around the sweater, "Next time, when you're nervous, don't do that." He said as she loosened her other hand's grip on the sweater before looking up at him. "Hold my hand instead." He said taking her right hand in his left one. She smiled softly at him and nodded.

"I will Lucas, thank you for staying." She said and Lucas knew that she wasn't just referring to today.

"I'll stay as long as you want Maya Penelope Hart." He said before smiling and pulling her head towards him and kissing her forehead, "Even if it means forever." Maya's eyes widened and her heartbeat quickened at his words, and for the first time in two months, she felt like everything would be okay again, because for the first time in fourteen years; someone had decided to stay again.

* * *

 **Bie-bie!**


	8. Treacherous

**Sorry for disappearing off the face of the earth, I had a huge test in school today (I'm gonna fail) but yeah, here's the chapter.**

 **and I've decided that if I think that a song is relatable for the chapter then I'll name the chapter after it, I think it'll be cool (because I'm deranged like that). So here's** ** _Treacherous_** **, chapter 8 of Warning Sign. Yes, like the song by Taylor Swift (all my swifties can I get an amen). Enjoy! And please please, pretty please with a cherry on top, review.**

* * *

It had been two weeks since the night at the Matthews', and Maya was getting ready to go back to school; not that she was excited, but it was a getaway from her home. As she coose an outfit, she thought back to the night when they all stayed at Riley's house.

 _*flashback*_

 _When it was declared that everyone would be staying at their house for the night because of an unpredicted storm, Maya felt like she would rather be sleeping on the subway. After she had gotten herself cornered by both Lucas and Josh, been thrown back into lockers and walls, and a guy had given her bruises (that sounds deceiving, she thought but it was true); an entire night of being trapped in with those said boys and seven other people had just seemed like a little too much. And to top that off, the sleeping arrangements hadn't been in her favor either. Three rooms and a living room had to be divided between ten people, which seemed easy, but boy were they wrong. It was Riley and Maya on Riley's bed, Cory and Topanga in their room with Farckle and Ava on make-shift beds beside them, Zay and Farckle were in Auggie's room but they denied entrance to both Lucas and Josh because the bed was too small and they didn't want a 'male dominance fight' in the middle of the night._

 _Lucas and Josh had then begrudgingly taken up the living room and although it seemed like pure coincidence that the two would end up in the same room, Maya thought the better of it when she saw Zay give Farckle a high-five before walking back into the room. But before she could think of any way to change the sleeping arrangements, everyone had fallen asleep, and much to her discomfort, she hadn't. sleep had never come easily to her since the third week of giving up eating, but she would pass out so much that she convinced herself that it was well balanced._

 _Everybody was asleep by two AM, so when Maya got up to go to the kitchen for a glass of water she didn't expect to hear two people talking. Correction, she didn't expect the two people who had been at each other's throats just that evening to be talking, without any grabbing of collars (or Maya) in their conversation. She closed the door behind hr as quietly as she could and then hid in the small passage which led to the living room, and she tried to eavesdrop. The first one that she heard was Lucas._

 _"So you're saying that you cornered her?"_

 _"Yeah, I did."_

 _"And you pushed her back into a wall?"_

 _"Yup, pretty much sums it up." Josh said with a short sigh as if he regretted how he had scared Maya. "Good" Maya thought as she looked over at the both of them, Lucas on the air mattress and Josh on the couch with his hands crossed behind his back as they talked._

 _"And you did this..because?" Lucas asked incredulously, trying to make sense of why Josh would do that and why he had told Lucas that he did. He wondered why the hell Josh had cornered her and tried to talk to her when he knew that she wasn't stable and could have passed out any time, he would never do something like that. 'Oh wait.' A voice in his head said, reminding him that he had been dumb enough to do the same thing as well._

 _"Because she wanted to protect you by not telling me what you did to her, and the only way to get her to talk was by either forcing her or scaring her. She wanted to protect you even after you go around fucking hitting her." Josh said as his fists clenched at the thought of Lucas just as much as touching her._

 _Lucas was nodding off to what Josh had been saying until he heard him say- 'go around fucking hitting her'. As soon as he heard those words he sat up straight on the mattress, and Josh sat up on the couch as well when he saw Lucas._

 _"Hold up, what the fuck? I would never 'go around' hitting that girl, I'm not that kind of guy." Lucas said, getting angrier each passing second. Josh too got angry when he thought that Lucas actually had the guts to lie to his face about this when he clearly had proof._

 _"Oh yeah, then how do you explain those ugly bruises on her wrists and the way that she flinched when my hand moved forward to take hold of her hand because she thought I was going to hit her, fucking hit her. That's like a warning sign you can't ignore Friar." He growled and all his attempts at controlling his anger failed one by one._

 _Lucas knew that Josh was right, and that even though he had just said that he wasn't, he had become exactly like that kind of guy and had more or less hit her. "I made a mistake." He suddenly exclaimed after a few seconds of both of them trying to contain their temper but failing miserably._

 _"So you did it? You hit her?" Josh prodded further, trying to get him to actually say it._

 _"Can you please stop calling it that? I didn't slap her or punch her; I just lost my temper for a split second. I-I wouldn't-" Lucas was almost pleading, because he really hadn't meant it. Josh on the other hand looked surprised as he looked at Lucas run a hand through his hair and look down in guilt. He shouldn't have asked anything more because Lucas was clearly distraught enough, but he had to know what exactly happened; he had too many ugly possibilities playing out in his head and he needed to know that this was the only thing that Lucas had done._

 _"What did you do then?" Josh asked although this time his voice was a little softer, because of Lucas' state or because he was scared to know if something more had happened to Maya, he didn't know. It took Lucas less than a minute to start talking because he didn't want Josh to think that he was hesitating because he was trying to hide something._

 _"I-I was trying to talk about it, but she just kept dodging the topic. She kept arguing with me, and then when she tried to walk away, I lost it. I yanked her wrist back and threw her against the wall, and when she tried to step away I caught hold of her other wrist too. I had her pinned against the wall, and I screamed at her. I kept getting angrier and angrier when she tried to free herself and my grip on her hands just got tighter and tighter, to the point where when she asked me to let go, her palms and fingertips had lost all colour and I could already see the bruises forming on her wrists." Lucas recited everything as it had happened that morning, and when he finished he drew in a shaky breath. "I can't believe I had the audacity to hurt her when she was already going through so much."_

 _Josh was convinced by the time Lucas stopped talking, especially when he saw Lucas try to keep his tears from falling and he realized that Lucas and Maya had to have been really close for it to affect him that much. But even though Josh was convinced and he also felt a tinge if guilt for misjudging the poor guy that much, he wasn't necessarily happy. So he turned his face to where Lucas was drowning in guilt._

 _"Look, I am going to kill you for this late because I won't stand anyone who makes Maya Hart cry, but you didn't know. I mean, sure, it was a dick move anyway, but you didn't know how bad it was and that she wanted to k-," he cleared his throat and avoided saying the words 'kill herself' and instead said, "end everything." After he said this he realized that he was actually being nice to Lucas Friar, and after sticking around for only a few hours, he knew that it wasn't right so he said something to make the blonde teen uncomfortable._

 _"So which one has your heart Friar, Riley or Maya?" he asked settling back on the couch and lying back down._

 _Lucas just rolled his eyes as he too lay back down on the air mattress and scoffed. "Why would I ever want to tell you that? One's your niece and one's her best friend, that's like telling my history teacher to pick a single subject to teach; it's unimaginably stupid and it's never going to happen." He said chuckling slightly at the end._

 _"What kind of history teacher teaches English? That's absurd, who would do that?" Josh said sarcastically and scoffed._

 _"Your brother." Lucas said with amusement as he saw Josh suddenly feigning a yawn and turning to face away from him, although Lucas could only see the base of the couch from where he was lying. Lucas laughed and turned over to the opposite side as well, and within five minutes, he was knocked out completely._

 _"Well that was an interesting conversation." Maya muttered to herself before going to the kitchen for a glass of water and then leaving just as she came._

-End of flashback-

She was nervous when she walked to school that day, mostly because she had been lying to Riley about trying to get better and she had avoided Lucas altogether. Mostly because she knew if he saw her that he would know that she was hiding something from him, from all of them. So she had hung out with riley and Farckle a little bit, or as much as she could without having to face Lucas but today, it just seemed unavoidable.

As she neared the school building she saw someone's back leaning against a pillar, and she skipped over to her because she recognized the tall-ish brunette as Riley.

"Hey Riles, is that my coffee?" she asked as she happily approached the girl, who nodded to inform Maya that it was her coffee, but she seemed a little distracted. Maya confusedly took the cup from Riley's hands and scrunched her eyebrows at her.

"Watcha ogling at? Did you see a bunny again? Riles I've told you already, it was probably a cat, not a rabbit that escaped from Rileytown." She said smiling, and Riley cracked a smile and stuck her tongue out at Maya but she still kept looking at something behind her.

"What are you looking at?" she asked turning around a bit to see what was the source of her friend's obvious distraction, and then swiveled around completely when she saw that the distraction was 6-feet tall, had green eyes, and liked to call himself Lucas. He idly stood there with a coffee in his hand and didn't say a word until Maya finally took notice of him.

"Hey Maya! I haven't seen you in, let me think, two weeks." He began accusatorily, his tone dancing on the edge of frustration and relief. Maya squirmed a little and avoided his gaze, because he was right and they both knew it.

"I've been busy." She lied as she pressed her lips into a thin line and shoved her hands in her back pockets; a clear sign that she didn't want to be messed with. But Lucas didn't seem like he caught the drift so he continued his jab at her, only this time he sounded down-right sarcastic.

"It's been so long I almost forgot what you looked like, but you know what? I shouldn't have worried about that, I mean, you haven't changed at all these past two months so why start now right?" he said and both Maya and Riley instantly picked up on the fact that something beyond Maya ignoring him was bothering him. But that didn't stop Maya from taking offense to his statement, so she shot back sounding equally as irritated.

"Yup. Still the same. Same hair, same clothes, same shoes," she began, gesturing to everything as she said it, before pretending to look over her body pretending to search for something before holding up her wrists in front of Lucas' face, "And look, same bruises. Oh wait, these arrived only two weeks ago, long after my anorexia actually but thanks for making me feel sick all over" She said with a sarcastic smile on her face and dropped her hand when she finished talking.

Lucas looked ready to insult her again but stopped when he opened his mouth and slumped his shoulders before looking in between Maya and Riley.

"I'm sorry guys, I just-I haven't exactly had the best few days and I'm sorry that I took it out on you Maya. I take it all back, just please don't be mad with me again, it was hell for me the last time. Please." He pleaded, stepping forward towards Maya.

"I'm not mad Huckleberry, people can have bad days. And god knows you're only human, so it's okay to screw up once in a while. This isn't like last time, you haven't gone all Texan Luc-," May never got to finish her sentence because a really confused and agitated looking Riley stepped forward and placed a hand between them, and demanded to know what was going on.

"Wait what do you mean bruises? Two weeks ago? He went all Texas Lucas? Can both of you tell me what the hell is going on?" she said, and she saw Maya and Lucas exchange worried glances and her chest deflated; it must've been something pretty bad if Maya had kept it from her. Finally after a long silence Maya spoke.

"Two weeks ago, something happened between Lucas and I, and he got angry at me. You know how he is when he's angry, so he accidently squeezed my wrists too hard and they kind of bruised." She finished explaining and in the back of her mind she thought how many times she would have to explain this small issue. "Good enough?" she asked Lucas urgently with wide eyes.

"You kind of just buried my grave for me shortstack, but I can take it." He said hurriedly, not even daring to look at Riley as he let put a nervous laugh. "Riley are you okay?" he asked once he looked at her, and boy did she look ready to kill as she ran towards Lucas with furious eyes.

Immediately, Maya grabbed her waist and pulled her back and went to stand in front of her to block her way. "Riles listen! You know how he can get when he's angry, he lost it for a moment but I'm fine now, so let's just leave this here." She tried to reason, but Riley, who was glaring at Lucas from above Maya's head, snapped her head down to look at Maya.

"No I don't know how he gets when he's mad and I honestly don't care. He hurt you, and nobody hurts my best friend Maya, do you get that?" she said in all seriousness and Maya looked a little taken aback, she wasn't used to Riley being serious so it came as a shock to both her and Lucas.

"Oh come on, first Josh and then you? How do I end up in situations like this when it comes to you Matthews' kids? I mean, even _Auggie_ doesn't want me to be your brother." Lucas exclaimed with wide eyes as he voiced his frustration. Then he stopped and looked down at Riley and realized that she didn't know anything about Josh knowing either. "Okay that one came out wrong. Mayaaa, some help here!" he called out to her desperately, but she was sitting on a huge piece of marble and watching her best friend with amusement as she advanced towards Lucas with her eyes morphing into slits. When she was less than two feet away from him, she jabbed a finger in his chest and looked up at him.

"YOU don't get to touch MY best friend and do _that_ to her." she gesture towards Maya's hands before continuing, "And what do you mean Josh hates you? Even Josh knew about this, and he didn't beat the hell out of you? I thought he had a thing for you Maya." she said and glanced at Maya, who was now gaping at Riley with shock. "And you," she turned back to Lucas, "I am not letting you off the hook for this and I'm going to make you regret even coming near her, do you understand me?" she asked, her voice threateningly low, and Lucas just nodded in fear. "You better go bury your Texas side _one thousand_ feet under because Lucas Friar, if I find out that you pulled something like this on her ever again; then that will be the end of you." she took a step back from him and glared up at him. "Mark. My. Words." She said and then turned around and walked inside the building, leaving a very flustered Lucas and dazed Maya alone in the garden.

"So.." Maya said dragging the word out as she turned to look at Lucas. "That was fun wasn't it?" she asked putting her hands in the back pockets of her jeans.

Lucas looked down at Maya with a look of shock and shook his head. "No, god no. I have never seen Riley so angry about anything before. Ever." He said emphasizing every word as he clutched the strap of his bag. Maya sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

"Look Huckleberry, Riley and I are like sisters; if you mess with either one of us the other is bound to give you hell. And she wasn't joking, if you ever hur-," Maya couldn't finish what she was saying because Lucas took a step towards her and cut her off. "Maya you know I'm never going to do that again." he said in a pleading tone, as if he was begging her to believe him. "All this-," he took both her hands in his own, "-it isn't me. Hurting the people that I love isn't me, and hurting you again is the last thing that I ever want to do." He said, but Maya averted her eyes from his own, like she didn't really believe him. Lucas saw that she was avoiding his gaze and looking down at the floor.

"Maya look at me." He said, her tiny hands still grasped gently in Lucas' rough ones. When she didn't respond to him he tried again, this time sounding more persistent.

"Maya please just look at me. I thought you forgave me, I really did." He said, crushed that Maya wasn't even looking at him. "I did." Maya mumbled still looking down, and Lucas saw her take in a shaky breath.

"What?" he asked, wanting to hear her one more time, but she didn't say anything and kept her head down. Suddenly Lucas put a hand under her chin and lifted her head up so that she was looking at him. "What did you say Maya?" he asked softly, causing her to lean into him to hear him. She kept looking at him but didn't say anything, and then her eyes left his to look down again. Lucas ran a hand through his hair and looked up at the sky before looking at Maya again, taking her hand in his again. "Maya tell me what you said." he said with more confidence in his voice, and he saw her discretely shake her head.

"Tell me or I'm going to kiss you."

Maya's head snapped up at his statement and her eyes grew a little wide, and she didn't even try to hide her surprise. She looked at Lucas' face to find any sign that he was joking, but she only saw him looking down at her expectantly waiting for her to say something. After a few seconds where Maya just stood bewildered, Lucas let go of her hand and cupped the side of her head and started to lean in. Maya froze, the memories of the night in Texas coming back. Lucas' other hand gripped her wrist and pulled her towards him, barely leaving any space between the two. His face kept inching close and closer to hers as Maya watched him with wide eyes. Once she realized that he wasn't going to pull away and that he wasn't kidding when he said he'd kiss her, his lips were brushing against hers. As soon as she felt his lips on hers, she opened her mouth to speak causing Lucas to pull away.

"I forgive you okay? I forgive you. Just- what the hell is wrong with you? Did you really just-did you- what the hell?" she said stuttering as she put some distance between them, the situation feeling entirely too uncomfortable.

"I don't know why I- I'm sorry, did I really just kiss you?" Lucas asked pointing at Maya and then at himself as it sunk in that he actually kissed her. Maya noticed his discomfort, because it was mirroring hers. She let out a nervous laugh as she tried to revert back to her normal self, but she was too dazed.

"No, I mean it was an almost kiss right? You didn't actually _kiss_ me." She said, putting finger quotes around the word 'kiss', because she couldn't process the fact that Lucas had, willingly, kissed her.

"Yeah!" Lucas agreed hurriedly. "I didn't really, we didn't really, yeah no." he said with a nervous laugh as his words caught in his throat.

The thoughts of Riley flooded Maya's brain. She felt guilty; she had promised herself that she would step back for Riley. 'But look how well that worked out' she thought to herself. "This-," she gestured her hands between Lucas and her, "-it didn't happen." She stated with finality, and Lucas whipped his head up and down so fast that Maya thought it would fall off his neck. "And besides, it didn't mean anything." She said and attempted to scoff, but she couldn't bring herself to. Lucas immediately agreed, "Yeah, it didn't mean anything, yeah." The school bell rang, saving them from the inevitable awkwardness that would have ensued. They both looked at each other, and with a slight nod of their heads started making their way into the school building. As they walked to their class, both of them had only one thing on their mind- they kissed, and it sure as hell didn't mean nothing.


End file.
